Saturday, March 06, 2010

I had to go to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve most of last week, and was really glad that as usual, there were lots of interesting things to see!

We saw 2 Estuarine Crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) near the main bridge on some days. This was the smaller one resting near the sluice gate.

At the same time, there was a bigger crocodile under the main bridge. The Estuarine Crocodile is the biggest living reptile, and can grow to over 6m long!

This Smooth Otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) was also spotted near the main bridge.

On Monday, we were really lucky to see 6 Smooth Otters! And 3 of them even went near the toilet at the visitor centre! Rather amusingly, when they approached the toilet, someone inside flushed and the otters were rather surprised by the sudden sound and ran away to the main freshwater pond near the toilet.

The 3 otters started swimming in the pond and appeared to be hunting for fish in the pond.

Meanwhile, another 3 otters were high and dry resting on the bank of the pond.

The otters even went to the pond at the entrance of the reserve! The ranger complained that they had been eating the kois and arowanas. I found the situation rather funny, though I was pretty sure that the park authorities were probably not too happy about this.

While I was at the pond near the entrance, I noticed that the Berembang (Sonneratia caseolaris) was flowering, and decided to grab a photo.

The fruit that I noticed during a previous trip was still there!

Near the visitor centre, we also saw the usual Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps indica) that was ringed.

There was a pair of Pink-necked Green Pigeons (Treron vernans) on the Berembang, busy shaking their tails to each other.

Unfortunately, they did not really doing anything exciting and eventually, the male decided to rest on a branch.

It even closed it eyes for a while. Not sure if it was all tired out with all the courtship and chasing away rival males.

There was this Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) that often appear near the pond too. This moorhen has a very wide distribution, and can be found in most parts of the world!

They appear to prefer swimming compared to other related speceis, and feed on water plants and small invertebrates.

We noticed that it also fed on the fallen Berembang stamens floating on the surface of the pond.

Will be going to Sungei Buloh again next week. Hope I will have the same good luck again!